Create, Pitch, Sell

November-- I'm currently juggling three projects, which I hope to have completed by the first of January.

I put two novels on Amazon Kindle last month. I had a lot of fun designing and creating the cover art.

SERIAL QUILLER: I bought a feather, quill tip, and fake blood from an arts and crafts store. I already had the antique silver and blue bottle. I stood the bottle and feather in front of a black cloth attached to the cabinet door handles above my kitchen counter, took a couple of pictures with a digital camera, then uploaded the photos to a graphics program on my computer. I forgot to apply the blood before I took the pictures, so I had to use the paintbrush on the toolbar.

SMOKE ON THE WATER: This cover was a lot easier to make. Seven pictures were taken at a local marina on a cloudy day. I chose the one you see, uploaded it to the graphics program, and sprayed it with 'fog' to create the smoky look.

Uploading the books to Amazon went a lot smoother than I thought it would. Since then, I've enjoyed visiting the Kindle Boards where I have met a lot of nice people.

Moved by the success of her debut novel, twenty-six-year-old BJ Donovan of New Orleans, Louisiana, can't handle the thoughts of being a one-hit wonder and never feeling special ever again. Using her position as the executive chef and owner of a popular restaurant in the French Quarter to blend in with the community, she embarks on a killing spree, with the aid of voodoo magic, and uses details of the murders to help sustain her best-seller status with a planned thriller series.

While the body count rises—from her brother's girlfriend, found mutilated at an abandoned farmhouse, to an undercover cop murdered in a dark alley on the riverside—BJ tries to remain above suspicion as she continues to write the wrongs in her world.

Excerpt from Chapter One—

Virgil awoke late at night to find his wife gone. He kicked off cold and clammy bedcovers, box springs screeched when he got up. A steady breeze, weighed down with humidity, carried the vanilla-like fragrance of Joe-Pye weed and the barely audible sound of laughter through an open window.

He stood behind fluttering white sheers and watched Marie trot across the back yard, her long black curls bouncing with each footfall. The opaque security light above the barn doors cast an eerie pallor through the limbs of an old elm draped with Spanish moss. He noticed her belly, in the narrow space between her shirt and shorts, seemed rounder than normal. He lazily scratched his ass, wondered what the hell she's doing.

A man stepped out of the shadows, and drew her into an embrace. They kissed for a moment, then entered the barn.

Marie came back out. She turned her head side to side, looked up.

Virgil leaned back without thinking.

The man clasped her hand. "C'mere, baby." He brought a shiny metal flask to his lips and took a long swig.

She giggled again. "Gimme some."

"Sh! Not now." He pulled her into the barn, loosely swung one door shut, the other already latched at the top.

* * *

Virgil slipped through the half closed door. Stood beneath the loft and listened to the rough'n ready sounds of raw lust. Glossy photos in his dog-eared girlie magazines flashed through his mind. He hiked the leather rifle strap onto his shoulder, gripped the sides of the wooden ladder. Slowly mounted the rungs; aware one always squeaked.

The gruesome discovery of a woman’s corpse in the small tourist resort of Point Jove, Missouri draws Sheriff Josh Wolfe, a widower who enjoys tinkering with his award winning hot rod, into the most perilous case of his career. Hounded by the townsfolk and media, Wolfe exhausts every conventional method for solving the crime. The investigation comes to a standstill. Then, four more residents disappear. Everyone is convinced Rhone County is harboring a serial kidnapper who chooses his victims by chance. Wolfe believes the people are not only related to one another but are somehow tied to the last surviving member of the county’s namesake. Time is not only running out for Sheriff Wolfe but for his lover, dissatisfied wife of a homebuilder, held against her will at the Rhone family's abandoned sawmill where spilled gasoline awaits a lighted match.

Excerpt from Chapter One—

It was her uncanny likeness to Adele, his adoptive sister, that made him stare at her. She sat to one side of a barstool with an arm propped on the padded edge, nice legs crossed beneath a short denim skirt. She sipped a margarita; checked out the Saturday night crowd in the intimate saloon setting. Smiled and waved at anyone she knew.

Jim took a seat at the end of the bar. He slid a pack of Morilos out of his shirt pocket. One by one, the single men honed in on her only to get shot down. He lit a cigarette to curb a satisfied smile. The slow moving couples on the dance floor reminded him of his brief stint as a deckhand on a cargo ship and the way the vessel rocked side to side on the rolling sea in advance of a storm. He loved it, even when he was almost swept overboard by a crashing wave.

When a barman with ERIC on his nametag approached, he ordered a shot of off-brand bourbon. A rock glass was plunked down in front of him. Jim paid for the drink with cash. He flicked ashes into an empty peanut bowl. Downed the cheap whiskey that displeased his palate.

Tilting a hat back on his head, he cast a furtive glance in her direction. The lights winked at her auburn hair when she tossed her head back to knock long strands from her shoulder. She looked at him, her eyes twinkling with carefree interest. Glossy red lips beckoned him with a playful smile.

He stood. An older man staggered toward her. Jim realized the effort to go unnoticed so he could keep coming back was about to end.

Inspired by a true crime, this standalone mystery is set in Wichita, Kansas, and is told from 'Kevin's' point of view.

NOTCH [working title]Blackmailed for murder, unable to prove his innocence, a man involves a county sheriff in his plan for revenge.

Excerpt—

"Now, tell me about the girl," said Sheriff Morgan.

God, here we go again. The words were at the back of Kevin's mind, but he was terrified to bring them forward. This is the part they'd all been waiting to hear. The part where they would decide exactly what his role in all of this had been. Like dogs in heat they all want a piece of me. His throat closed. He counted three dead flies on the narrow windowsill. A fourth lay on its back fitfully flailing its legs in some sort of macabre death dance.

Morgan leaned closer. "Talk to me, Kevin."

Kevin fixed his gaze on the drab gray wall farthest away from the door of the interrogation room. "She was lying on her left side...." There ain't no stoppin' us now, girlie, he recalled Jasper telling the redhead the night the three of them went to the abandoned meat packing plant to have a little fun. He scratched his forehead, hiding his expression. Or was it the blonde he'd said that to?

It's official! SMOKE ON THE WATER has gone live on Amazon Kindle. [linked in right column]

* * *

The gruesome discovery of a woman’s corpse in the small tourist resort of Point Jove, Missouri draws Sheriff Josh Wolfe, a widower who enjoys tinkering with his award winning hot rod, into the most perilous case of his career. Hounded by the townsfolk and media, Wolfe exhausts every conventional method for solving the crime. The investigation comes to a standstill. Then, four more residents disappear. Everyone is convinced Rhone County is harboring a serial kidnapper who chooses his victims by chance. Wolfe believes the people are not only related to one another but are somehow tied to the last surviving member of the county’s namesake. Time is not only running out for Sheriff Wolfe but for his lover, dissatisfied wife of a homebuilder, held against her will at the Rhone family's abandoned sawmill where spilled gasoline awaits a lighted match.

"The title caught my attention, it was a good match to the storyline. The pace was good and held my interest, along with nice suspenseful moments. I liked the ending, it worked well for the story." --driver